Mastic shingle



Aug. 1., 1939. l.. KlRscHBRAUN MASTIC SHINGLE Filed Sept. 28, 1937 3 Sheets-*Sheet l ATTORNEY Aug. 1, 1939. L. KIRSCHBRAUN MASTIC SHINGLE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 28, 1937 [All ...fn

j o R@ Y l. .1. *L V \L V ww n o 6m. n l A llgl, 1939- l l.. KlRsHBRAuN 2,168,218

u MAsTIc SHINGLE Filed Sept. 28, 1.937 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY PatentedA Aug. 1, 1939 2,168,218 MAsTrc SHINGLE Lester Kirschbraum-New York, N. Y., assignor to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Application September 28, 1937, Serial No.166,075

2 Claims.

This invention relates to mastic shingles of the type in which the major portion of the shingle is composed vof a plastic composition that is capable of setting to a. more or less hardened 5 condition. Essentially this composition comprises a bituminous material, suchas asphalt or like waterproofing substance, mixed with liber of any suitable character and hardening fillers, such as finely divided solids as, for example, clay,

l talc, crushed slate, slate dust and the like, the

whole being macerated or kneaded to form a homogeneous plastic mass that can be suitably shaped to the desired form under pressure.

Shingles have heretofore been prepared from compositions of the above described types, these compositions being particularly advantageous for such use inasmuch as they may be molded into tapering elements with thick butts similar in form to the conventional wooden shingles. Also,

:0 the hardened plastic composition provides a rel` atively rigid and substantial shingle having good weather-resistant characteristics and presenting a pleasing appearance on theroof. Due, howpart, been, heavier and more expensive than is desired or necessary to provide a well constructed to roof covering.

'Ihe principal object of the present invention is to provide a mastic shingle employing a hardy ened plastic composition of the type described above as its major constituent, which requires the use of smaller quantities of the plastic material while retaining the appearance and strength of mastic shingles heretofore proposed. A further feature of the present invention is the provision 0f a shingle of the above type so constructed 0 that dead air spaces'are provided between overlying shingles or within the structure of the shingle 7itself to impart a substantial thermal insulating effect to the roof or sidewall covering laid with the shingles.

'.5 A shingle constructed in accordance with my invention and by which the above stated objects are obtained comprises, briefly stated, a hardened plastic body portion having extending inwardly from the underface thereof a plurality of de- ;0 pressions separated by longitudinally and transversely extending ribs. In other words, the undersurface of the body portion ofv theshingle of the present invention is provided with a waiilclike configuration. The body of the shingle may i5 be of uniform thickness but preferably tapers (ci. s-s) in thickness longitudinally thereof. In the latter case, the depressions preferably successively diminish in depth from those of a maximum depth adjacent the butt end to those of a minimum depth adjacent the upper end of the shin- 5 gle. A sheet of a suitable water-resistant material such as. asphalt saturated felt is preferably secured to one or both surfaces of the plastic body portion to reinforce the shingle and to give it sufllcient strength to prevent distortion thereof l0 and to resist sloughing and pulling away of the plastic body from the nails when the shingle is applied on a roof or side wall and subjected to solar heat. The upper surface of the shingle may be suitably protected against the weather, for example, by a coating of a weather-resistant material such as asphalt having partially embedded therein a surfacing of mineral grit.

A mastic shingle in accordance with the invention and having a wallie-like contoured undersurface is lighter inweight than the mastic shingles of the prior art of similar overall dimensions, due to the reduction in the amount of the hardened plastic material required. However, due to the reinforcement provided by the intersecting ribs, which dene the wallie-like configuration of theundersurface of the plastic body, no loss in the strength or weather-resistant chary acteristics of the shingle results. The depressions formed in the shingle body portion moreover provide dead air spaces between overlapping shingles whereby a substantial thermal insulating effect is imparted to the roof or wall covering' laid from the shingles.

The invention will be more fully understood and further advantages and objects thereof will become apparent when reference is made to the detailed description which'is to follow and to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shingle embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspectivefview of .the shingle of Fig. 1 in inverted position;

Figure 3 is a'sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; l

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1; f

Figure 5 isv a sectional view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating a modified form of shingle;

Figure 6 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating diagrammatically an apparatus which may be employed to produce certain forms of shingles embodying my invention;

Figure 651s a similar view depicting a continuation of the apparatus of Fig. 6;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of forming rolls employed in the apparatus of Fig. 6;

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6 with parts shown in elevation;

y Figure 9 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 8 but illustrating a modified construction of the forming rolls;

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a modified construction of the forming rolls;

Figure 11 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating diagrammatically an apparatus which may be employed to produce shingles of modifiedforms in accordance with my invention, and

Figure 12 is a sectional view taken on the line I2-I 2 of Fig. 11 with parts shown in elevation.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 thereof, a shingle I0 is depicted which embodies a preferred construction according to the present invention. The shingle III comprises a body portion II of a suitable hardened plastic material composed of bituminous material, such as asphalt or like waterproofing substance, mixed with fiber of any suitable character, and hardening llers, such as finely divided solids as, for example, clay, talc, crushed slate, slate dust, cork, cork dust and the like. A convenient source of raw material that may be employed to form such a composition resides in scrap roofing that accumulates in the manufacture of felted, fibrous, asphaltic, prepared roofing. Since the latter is generally composed of asphalt constituting the waterproong medium, fibrous material constituting the base, and mineral grit constituting the surfacing, scrap roofing of this nature is in most instances admirably suited for the purposes of this invention, but, if desired, there may be combined therewith further quantities of asphalt and further quantities of similar or additional fillers,A

e. g. cork, cork dust or the like to vary the composition and consistency of the mixture for the formation of the plastic mass as required in actual practice.

'I'he plastic body portion I I is preferably tapered in thickness from a maximum thickness at the butt end of the shingle to a minimum thickness at or adjacent the opposite end thereof, although the shingle may be made of uniform thickness throughout, if desired. The underside of the plastic body portion I I is provided with a plurality of depressions I4 defined by longitudinally extending ribs I5 and transversely extending ribs I6. 'Ihe outer longitudinally extending ribs I5 constitute portions of the side walls I1 of the body portion and a transversely extending rib I6 constitutes a portion of the end wall I 8 thereof. The numbers,- areas and depths of the depressions are made such that the depressions constitute a substantial portion of the volume of the shingle body as determined by its over-all dimensions. For example, a shingle 12 inches 'by 16 inches may have itsundersurface divided into say from 20 to 200 or more depressed areas defined by narrow ribs of the plastic material. Where the shingle is made of uniform thickness throughout, the depressions are provided, at intervals as determined by the transverse ribs, for the full length thereof and preferably are made of equal depth which may-be say`equal to one-halfthe thickness of preferably individually diminish in depth in the direction of the upper end of the shingle. The depressions most adjacent the upper end of the shingle merge with the undersurface of the shingle along the line I9 (see Fig. 3). The bottoms of the depressions preferably lie in a plane parallel to the plane of the upper surface of the shingle.

The plastic body portion II may be reinforced against distortion and to resist sloughing and pulling away of the same from the nails, when the shingle is laid and subjected to solar heat, by a sheet I 2 of a suitable weather-resistant material laminatedto the upper surface of the body portion. The sheet I2 may preferably comprise an asphalt saturated felt material or the like. The reinforcing sheet I2 preferably covers the entire upper surface of the shingle body and carries on its exposed surface a coating of asphalt or other weather-resistant material in which is partially embedded a comminuted grit I3 such as crushed slate, crushed slag or the like which may be of any desired color. The preferred asphalt coating comprises a layer deposited from a mixture of a clay type emulsion of asphalt in water with a suitable quantity, say in an amount equal to the emulsion, of Portland cement or the like. A molten, preferably high melt-point asphalt may, however, be employed as the coating material or, if desired, other known types of coating and/or surfacing materials may be used in lieu of the asphalt emulsion or molten asphalt coatings and the mineral grit surfacing.

In the modification of the invention depicted in Fig. 5, the shingle 20 comprises a plastic body portion 2| similar in construction to the plastic body II of the shingle of Figs. 1 to 4. In this form of the invention a thin backing sheet 25, preferably comprising asphalt saturated felt or the like, is applied to the undersurface of the body portion and adhesively secured to the outer surfaces of thel longitudinally and transversely extending ribs and to the entire undersurface of that portion of the body extending from the lineof mergence of the depressions with the undersurface, indicated at 29, lto the upper end of the same. Thus the backing sheet 25 covers the entire underside of the body portion and encloses depressions 2'4. The upper surface of the body portion of a shingle of this form may be provided with a suitable weather-resistant covering which may comprise a. coating. of asphaltic l the facing sheet l2 of the shingle or Figs. 1 to 4.

However, a coating of molten high melt-point asphalt or other coating materials may be employed in lieu of the emulsion coating, if desired. For some purposes an especially well reinforced shingle may be required. To obtain such a shingle, a facing sheet carrying the coating and surfacing may be applied to the top surface of the shingle shown in Fig. 5 in lieu of the coating and surfacing directly applied to the plastic body portion as shown.

In the construction of the shingles of the present invention, I preferably first form a homogeneous plastic mass of bituminousmaterial such as asphalt of, say, from to 280 F. melt-point and hardening fillers, the mixture being worked up and brought to the desired consistency in any suitable form of kneading mechanism. As heretofore stated, prepared asphalt roongscrap may and a plurality of grooves 5| be employed for this purpose combined, if desired, with further quantities of bituminous material and/or fillers such as slate dust, talc, cork, cork dust andthe like. 1

In the formation of shingles of the construction depicted in Figs. 1 to 4, the above described mixture in a hot and plastic state is fed from a suitable storage supply 30 (see Fig. 6) in a continuous flow through an extrusion nozzle 3| and between the opposing surfaces of a pair of cooperating forming rolls 32 and 33 mounted for rotation at equal peripheral speeds, in the directions indicated by the arrows, upon parallel shafts 34 and 35 respectively. The rolls 32 and 33 are driven from any suitable or convenient source of power (not shown). The lengths of the forming rolls 32 and 33 may be made such as to form a single strip of the plastic material of a width equal to the transverse dimension of the shingies. However, preferably these rolls are of such length as to provide a plurality of plastic strips of shingle width. For this purpose the roll 32 (see Figs. 6, 7 and 8) is provided with flanges or collars 36 at the ends thereof and an intermediate collar or collars 31 dividing the roll lengthwise into a plurality of sections each of a length equal to the transverse dimension of the shingles to be formed. The forming roll 33 similarly is provided with end collars or iianges 38 andan intermediate collar or collars 33 the spacing between these collars being equal to the spacing between the collars on the roll 32. The combined depths of the collars is made substantially equal to the thickness of the body portion of the shingle and the shafts 34 and 35 of the rolls are so placed that corresponding iianges of the rolls are in substantial rolling contact at the bight therebetween whereby a plurality of adjacent shingle molds are provided between the opposing surfaces of the rolls. Adjacent the rolls 32 and 33 are spray nozzles 51 and 58 connected to any suitable water supply and mounted to direct a cooling spray against the surfaces of the rolls.

The roll 32 is provided with a smooth surface between adjacent collars. Each of the circumferential areas between adjacent collars of the roll 33 are indented to provide a plurality of grooves 50 extending longitudinally of the roll extending circumferentially of the roll, the grooves intersecting to define intermediate projections or protuberances 52. The longitudinally extending grooves 50 have their side walls rounding upwardly and outwardly to impart a gear-toothlike configuration to the corresponding walls of the projections and the grooves 5| may preferably have their side walls slanting or rounding upwardly and outwardly (see Figs. 6, 7 and 8) whereby the projections defined by the grooves may be withdrawn from the plastic as the roll 33 rotates without undue distortion of ribs of the plastic material molded by the grooves. For the construction of a tapered shingle as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, the longitudinally extending grooves 50 successively vary lin depth from those of a minimum depth at the points :c and v on the roll 33 to those of a maximum depth on either side of a longitudinallyxtending knife blade 53. The circumferentially extending grooves 5| similarly vary in depth from zero depth adjacent the points-:c-y to a maximum depth where they iritersect with the longitudinally extending grooves adjacent the .blade 53. It follows' vthat the heights of the protuberances '52 will taper off minimum adjacent the points .'z: and y;

Located adjacent the roll 32 is a reel 54 rotatably mounted on a shaft 55 supported in parallelism with the shaft 34 of roll 32. The reel 54 supports a plurality of ribbons` 55 of a` suitable reinforcing material such as asphalt saturated felt or the like, the ribbons 56 being drawn from the reel and passed around the forming roll 32 to lie against the smooth surfaces thereof and between the plastic material and the roll (see Figs. 6 and 8). The knife blade 53, previously referred to, is of a depth to extend toward the roll 32, when it is in position at the bight between the rolls, with' its cutting edge spaced a small distance from the roll 32. Diametrically opposite the blade 53 on roll 33 a second blade 53a is provided which is also of such depth that its cutting edge nearly,y

but not quite, contacts the roll 32 when it is in position at the bight between the rolls. The blades 53 and 53*l thus substantially sever the plastic and the reinforcing material on spaced lines, the material on opposite sides of the lines of severence being connected only by thin readily tearable webs. A similar effect may be obtained by forming the blades 53 and '53a `with serrated edges to partially cut through the thickness o f the plastic and to provide a line of perforations vthroughthe remaining portions of the thickness of the plastic and of the ribbons.

The plastic material forming the body portion of the shingles is, as previously stated, fed from the storage supply 3|) between the rolls 32 and 33 where it is compressed and forced into contact with the reinforcing material 56 and into the grooves 5| and 52 of forming roll 33'. The ribbons of reinforcing material are adhesively secured to the plastic material during the molding thereof by the asphaltic constituent of the plastic. The circumferential dimension of the rolls 32 and 33, as shown, is preferably made equal to the length of two shingles. Hence each of the molds constitutedby the co-operating forming rolls acts, upon each revolution of the rolls to mold a section of a continuous plastic sheet, the portions of the section formed by co-opera- -tionv of the areas z--rand z-y of roll 33 with ,from a maximum adjacent the blade 53 to a roll 32 being of uniform thickness and the por-- tion of the section formed by iso-operation of the area .1s-y of roll 33 with roll 32 varying in thickness from a minimum thickness at its ends to a maximum thickness at a line midway between its ends. of the longitudinally and circumerentially extending ribs in the mastic material by the grooves 5|! and 5|,"of successively diminishing depth and of gradual varying depth respectively, results in It will thus be seen that the molding n simultaneously imparting to the shingle a cross' f together by thin readily tearablegportions left bythe cutting blades 53 and 53B. The portions of the shingles extending from the grooves of minimum depth to their upper ends will be uniform in thickness.` If desired, however, this portion of the shingle may also be tapered by proper shaping of the portions z-:c and z-y of roll 33 as will be readily apparent. The shingle sec'- tions thus formed will have body portions of the type illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4. As shown in said \of the ribs is substantially the complement of that of the grooves of the roll 33.

According to a modification of the construction described above, the forming roll 43 (see Fig. 9), otherwise of the form of the roll 33 of Fig. 6, is provided with end collars 48 and an intermediate collar 49 having knife-like edges. The other forming roll 42, in this instance is smooth surfaced throughout, that is, no collars are provided thereon. \The collars 48 and` 49 on roll 43 are of such depth that their knife edges substantially contact the surface of the roll v42 at the bight between the rolls. The reel 54 carries a sheet of the facing material 56 of a width to extend the length of the rolls. shingle elements by the modified device, the operation is similar to that described above for the apparatus of Fig. 6 except that the knife blades formed on the collars 48 and 49 of roll 33 sever the wide facing sheet 56 into the strips of shingle width at the same time that the plastic material is molded between the forming rolls and secured to the facing material.

The forming rolls 32 and 33 have been described as having a circumferential dimension such as to form two shingle elements for each revolution thereof. It will be apparent, however, that these rolls may be so constructed as to form a greater number of shingle elements during each revolution of the same, if desired.

The forming rolls according to a further modiiication may be constructed to mold the plastic material into shingle elements extending longitudinally of the rolls. Inj this case the forming roll `9|) corresponding to the roll 33 of Fig. 6 is (see Fig. 10) provided-with collars 9I and 92,

which may have the configuration of the collars as illustrated in either Fig. 8 or 9, spaced apart longitudinally of the roll a distance equal to the length of the shingles to be formed. 'I'he circumferentially extending .grooves 93, in this instance, completely encircle the roll except for interruptions provided by knife blades 95 spaced apart a circumferential distance equal to A.the width of a shingle. The grooves 93 successively vary in depth between adjacent collars.

The longitudinally extending grooves 94 taper in depth fr'om a maximum depth where they intersect the grooves 93 of greatest depth tozero depth adjacent the grooves 93 of least depth. The intersecting grooves define therebetween projections or protuberances 96. The cross-sectional forms of the grooves 93 and 94 are made similar to the cross-sectional forms of the grooves 5I and 50 respectively of the roll 33 of Figs. 6. 7 and 8 whereby no undue distortion of the ribs of the plastic material molded by the :grooves will result. 'I'he forming roll 99 and its oo -operating roll 91 may be of a length to mold one or more lanes of shingles, the rolldepicted being of a length to mold two lanes-of shingles, and may have a circumferential extent preferably equal to the width of two or more shingles. In the operation of the apparatus employing a forming roll as described above, the plastic material is In the construction of themolded by the mold sections provided by the cooperating formingrolls into lanes of shingle elements interconnected along their side edges by l thin webs of the plastic and/orfacing sheet not acted upon by the knife blades 95.

The lanes of`- interconnected shingle elements, formed in any of the manners described above, pass from the forming rolls and are supported by a suitable means such as the endless belt 6I carried by pulleys 60 or the like. The endless belt is driven insuch a manner as to have the upper stretch thereof travelling at a speed equal to the rate at which the interconnected shingle elements leave the forming rolls. In order to maintain the plastic mass in a suitable condition for the extrusion and forming operations, it is necessary that it be at a relatively high temperature. The mastic material after it leaves the forming rolls retains a substantial quantity of this heat, and suitable cooling means for the same is advantageously provided at this point. The cooling means. as indicated in Fig. 6 may comprise a series of spray nozzles 62 mounted to direct their sprays onto the upper surfaces of the interconnected elements and connected to a header or headers 63 supplied with water from some suitable source. A second series of spray nozzles 64 connected to a header 65 may also be provided to direct a cooling spray against the undersurface of the plastic material. 'I'he spray nozzles 64 are located between the upper and lowerreaches of the belt 6I, which is made of a foraminous or other open construction, whereby the spray from the nozzles may be directed through the belt and against the undersurface of the plastic material. It will be readily apparent that other cooling mediums may be used in place of the water sprays, for example, air jets similarly located may be employed. Furthermore, no special cooling means need be employed if a suilicient length of the interconnected elements be left exposed to the normal cooling effects of the surrounding atmosphere before subsequent operations are performed thereon.

Supported above the endless belt 6I is a coating applicator 68 which may comprise a spout or series of spouts 99 delivering the coating material from any suitable source of supply to the upper surfaces of the lanes of interconnected elements and a spreader or doctor rollvlll. 'Ihe doctor4V ness of the endwise interconnected elements de? livered4 from the formingrolls as illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. Where, however, the shingle elements are delivered i'n side to side interconnected relationship as from a forming roll as depicted in Fig. 10 the doctor roll is given a surface conguration in conformity with the transverse contour` of the upper surface of the lanes of interconnected shingle elements. The coating materials supplied to the spout 59 may comprise a high melt-point asphalt in molten and readily ilowable condition. Alternatively an emulsion of asphalt in water may be employed as the coating material, the coating in this instance preferably being prepared by intermixing in an asphalt emulsion in which a clay, e. g., bentonite, preferably constitutes the dispersing medium', `a. quan-4 tity of a suitable weighting or rigidity imparting material such as Portland cement. The propor. tion of'cement employed will be such as to provide a coating of desired consistency and may be, say, approximately equal in volume to the asphalt emulsion. An emulsion coating material of agieaaiaV terial, which may not be completely cooled at this point, serves to drive,oi or to substantially aid in driving oi the aqueous phase of the emulsion to deposit therefrom an asphalt-cement layer of high resistance to flow under heat.

'I'he lanes of interconnected shingle elements ,after leaving the coating applicator 68 pass beneath hoppers 1| of any suitable construction which contain a comminuted grit material such as crushed slate or the like of any desired color. 'I'he comminuted grit is showered upon the coated surfaces of the interconnected elements While the coating is in a plastic state and is partially embedded therein by suitable means. The embedding means may, as shown, comprise a roller 12 either yieldably mounted as 'at 14 to rise and fall as isl necessary to follow the variationsin the thicknesses of the shingle elements, co-operating withan underlying roll which may preferably comprise the end pulley 6c which supports Y the belt 6|, as illustrated in Fig. 6, or having a surface contour to press evenly throughout the length of the elements when they are formed by rolls of the type illustrated in Fig. 10. g

The several lanes of coated and surfaced interconnected shingle elements after leaving the embedding rolls 12 and 60 pass to a second conveyor means (see Fig. 68) which preferably comprises endless belts 11 and 19 supported respectively below and above the plane of travel of the interconnected elements by pulleys 16 and 18. The upper stretch of the belt 11 and the lower stretch of the belt 19 travel in the same direction Vbut at a greater speed than the belt 6| andare so spaced relatively to one another as to bind the shingle elements therebetween. Thus, as -the shingle elements enter between the faster moving belts 11, 19, a suiiicient pull is provided on them to separate them along the weakened lines provided by the knife blades 53 and 53".

The disconnectedindividual shingles are carried by the belts 11 and 19 preferably to a receiving device 8l,

The reinforcing material secured to the upper .surface of the plastic body portion of the shingle forming rolls and may be permitted to fall onto a belt, for example, as that shown at 6| in Fig. 6 and be conveyed directly to a receiving device inasmuch as' nok further vcoating or surfacing operations are" required.

vAn apparatus for use in the formation of shingles of -tbe type depicted in Fig. 5 is diagrammatically'illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12. The forming rolls |32 and |33 may be of the conilguration of the forming rolls 32 and I3 of Fig. 6 or may be of the form required to provide shingle elements interconnected at their side edges as produced by a forming roll as shown in Fig. 10. In the`- apparatus illustrated invllgs.v l1 and 12, the forming rolls |32 and |33 are similar in form to rolls 32 and 33 of Figs. 6, '1 and 8 and the remaining parts of the apparatus are "constructed to operate lon lanes .of interconnected elements formed by rolls of this type. 'I'he changes necessary to permit the use of the formingv roll of Fig.

10 will, however, be obvious to one skilled in-the" art. The plastic material in' heated condition and comprising bituminous material and hardening llers is supplied from a suitable hopper and fed directly between the opposing surfaces of the forming rolls. The lanes of interconnectedl elements thus formed pass from the forming rolls to restv upon strips |31 of a weather-resistant material such as asphalt saturated felt sup plied from a reel |38 and extending over a roll or the like |39. The lanesl of interconnected elements with their thus associated backing strips |31 thence pass between the co-operating faces of a pair of pressure rolls |40 and |4|. The` roll I 4| is yieldably mounted by suitable means such The lower roll |40 is provided with a plurality of collars |42 dening recesses therebetween, the length of the recesses being substantially equal to the width ofthe shingles formed by the rolls |32 and |33 and the number of the recesses longitudinally of the roll being equal to the number of lanes of interconnected elements formed 'by the rolls. The strips '|31 of asphalt saturated felt, each of a width of a 'shingle element, are drawn from the reel |30 and passed over the roll |40 to liein the bottoms of the recesses thereof and are pressed against the bottoms of the ribs of the single elements by the pressure of the roll |4|. The pressure between the rolls |40 and |4| is made sufcient to firmly press the felt to the ribs of the shingle elements to cement the felt thereto either by the asphaltic constituent of the plastic of which they are composed or by a suitable waterproof adhesive, e. g. an asphalt emulsion, which may, if desired, be-applied to the upper surface of the felt sheet. The interconnected shingle elements with their attached backingsheet pass from the rolls |40 and I4| to a supporting conveyor |6| which carries the interconnected elements between Water sprays or similar cooling means |62 and |64, and beneath coating and surfacing means in a like manner to thatV illustrated for the conveyor 6| of Fig. 6. The shingle elements are then separated along the weakened lines between adjacent shingles in any suitable manner.

For the formation of shingles having reinforcing sheets on both their upper and lower surfaces, vthe apparatus of Fig. 11 is provided with a reel |80 adjacent the forming roll |32, rotatably mounted 0n a shaft IBI Iwhich lies in parallelism -to the shaft I 94 of the forming roll. The-reel |80 supports a plurality of strips of the felt or similar material to be employed for the facing of the upper surface of the shingles. 'I'he strips |82 are extended around the roll |32 and secured to the upper faces of the shingle elements asvthey are molded, similarly as are the strips 56 in the device of Fig. 6.

Having thus described my invention-in rather full detail, it will be apparent to one skilled in tions may readily suggest themselves without departing from the .scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The term shingle is used herein in a broad sense and is intended to include strip shingles and similar roofing or siding elements as Well as individual shingles.

What I claim is: 1. A roong element of the character described comprising a body portion of hardened plastic material composed of bituminous material and hardening fillers, the body portion tapering in cross section from a relatively thick butt end to a relatively thin upper end, the underside of said body portion being formed with a plurality of depressions dened by transversely and longitudinally extending ribs, the depressions progres sively decreasing in depth from said butt end of the element to a point adjacent the upper end thereof and the successive depressions longitudinally of the element tapering in depth in conformity with the tapering cross section of the body portion, and a sheet of backing material secured to the undersurface of said body portion and bridging the depressions therein.

2. A roofing element of the character described comprising a body portion of hardened plastic material composed of bituminous material and hardening i'lllers, the body portion tapering in cross section from a relatively thick butt end to a relatively thin upper end, the underside of said body portion being formed with a plurality of depressions dei'lned by transversely and longitudinally extending ribs, the depressions progressively decreasing in depth from said butt end of the element to a point adjacent the upper end thereof and the successive depressions longitudinally of the element tapering in depth in conformity with the tapering cross section of the body portion, a. sheet of backing material secured to the undersurface of said body portion and bridging the depressions therein, and a. weatheriesistant material on the upper surface of said body portion.

` LESTER KIRSCHBRAUN. 

